Hi Josh

You could start with Eurobarometer which is Europe but you can look at the UK specifically, it has stuff about attitudes mostly but is a very good resource. In  terms of understanding the literature is huge but there is a greater focus on school age children. This paper may be a good place to start, it is from 1994 but you can follow citations.

Young people's ideas about inheritance and evolution
C Wood-Robinson - 1994 - Taylor & Francis

I am sorry that is not much but to be honest there is so much academic literature it is hard to know where to start, I advise a search on Google Scholar and you will see. If you are interested in the understanding of genetics look at the work of Jenny Lewis also in Leeds. Again a bit out of date but a good place to start http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/research/projects/young-peoples-understanding-of-and-attitudes-to-the-new-genetics

Good luck, Emma

On 15 October 2015 at 11:25, Joshua Howgego <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello all,

I'm looking for some research about how well the UK public understands science. A search of the PSI-COMM archive reveals lots of discussion about the Public Attitudes to Science survey, but this doesn't seem to include anything on how much the public understand e.g. evolution, quantum theory etc -- and that's what I'm after. 

Can anyone point me to some info on this? Surveys themselves or organisations that have done this sort of thing would be good to know about.

With thanks,

Josh

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Josh Howgego

Science journalist

www.joshuahowgego.co.uk

+44 (0) 7974 399776

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Emma Newall

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Science Communication and Education Consultant, Charles Darwin Trust
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